Good Luck, Chuck
by Hobie
Summary: Terrorists have taken over Kinderkare Pharmaceuticals in search of a valuable laptop. It seems no one can stop them, but Charlie plans to die hard trying.


Gunshots rang out. He could not believe what he was hearing. Henry was in the executive bathroom in the Executive gym when all hell broke loose at lunchtime. But right at that very moment, his first and foremost concern was for _her_. Eliza. He had once taken a course in workplace violence, anything was possible these days. But when confronted with the actual thing, you never knew how you would react when the crap hit the fan. The book had said to hide and try and barricade oneself in a room. He could have stayed hidden in the bathroom. But Eliza could be in danger.

So he left the safety of the bathroom and cautiously entered the executive gym area. No one else was using it at the moment.

"Attention all employees, this is Sam Saperstein," the exec's voice boomed out of the intercom system. "For your own safety, remain where you are. The building is locked down. It has been taken over by terrorists..."

And Henry opened the door into the hall and was suddenly knocked over by a goon with a machine gun.

Most of the executive team had been ushered into the boardroom. There were three masked gunmen, two with H&amp;K MP7s. The leader stood before Saperstein, brandishing a Desert Eagle at him. "I do not suffer fools glady," he said with a Eurotrash accent. "But unless I have your complete and total cooperation, lives will be lost."

"What is it you want?" Saperstein demanded. "I don't want anyone here harmed."

Eliza sat in silence, petrified. She glanced at Linda, Joan, and Larry who were sitting nearby in shock as well. It didn't even occur to her to try and call 911 from her cell. Moreover, there had been two gunshots on the same floor. And Henry wasn't in here and she suddenly had a sinking feeling.

"A laptop," the leader replied. "One was left here last month at the Women of Pharma brunch. One of you is in possession of it. If anyone here denies this, I will shoot someone at random."  
All the department heads looked at each other with skeptical looks.

"IT?" Saperstein asked Weinstein, the Adminstrator.

"If someone left their laptop behind, we wouldn't take it, maybe security?"

"You have 10 seconds before I start shooting," the masked leader warned.

"Wait!" Charlie announced from his seat. "I know where it is."

"Go on.."

He stood up in his seat, hands raised to show surrender. "I have it in my bag here."

"Charlie? All this time?" Saperstein asked. "What's on it?"

"Open it," the leader instructed.

Charlie reached for his laptop bag then unzipped it. He fished through a small compartment then deftly grabbed a pen. With a faster than anyone thought possible he shot the nearest goon right through the eye. The intruder dropped dead. Before the second could react, Charlie hurled a throwing knife someone taken from his belt buckle into the throat of the other machine pistol wielding terrorist.

Saperstein sprang into action, elbowing the lead thug in the sternum then following up with a tackle.  
The thug and the Chairman rolled around on the floor, Saperstein was trying to wrest the gun out of the man's grasp. Seeing their boss in trouble, all the Kindercare employees ganged up on the lone gunman and they took turns beating the crap out of him.

"Omg, Henry!" Eliza remembered.

Charlie grabbed the Desert Eagle, made sure a round was chambered then left the boardroom, knowing there was still an active shooter. He exited the boardroom and moved cautiously down the hallway, pistol at the high ready.  
Coming around the corner was the last gunman with a Sig Sauer P229 held to Henry's head. Eliza rushed into the hallway behind Charlie and gasped when she saw the predicament.

"Eliza!" Henry called out, afraid more for her than himself.

"Henry!" her light brown eyes full of fear.

"Drop it!" the goon hissed at Charlie. "I'll blow his head off!"

"You drop it! Do it now!" the tall marketing assistant ordered, his normally jolly eyes were dead serious.

Henry gazed at Eliza, wondering if he was seeing her for the last time. There had been so much he wanted to say to her, so much regret on his part.

"I'm sorry, Eliza," he called out to her.

"Please let him go," she pleaded with the gunman.

"I love…" Henry started to say.

The gunman's mistake in underestimating Charlie was his undoing. The tall assistant did a double tap right into the man's forehead. He didn't have time to pull his own trigger.

"Henry!" she ran down the hall and was in his arms in no time.  
Later on, after emergency services and the news arrived on scene, Raj sat quietly in his office with Heny and Eliza.

"Saperstein says we may shut down for a few days, give everyone some time to recover from this traumatic experience," the HR director told them.

"What exactly were those men after?" asked Henry.

"Damned if I know," Raj replied. "But it would some there is more to Charlie than meets the eye."

"Indeed," Eliza nodded. "If it weren't for him, we'd all be dead by now."

"Did you know his background when you hired him?" the Indian/American asked.

"I interviewed him as did you," Henry mentioned. "But I had no idea he had special skills."

"Charlie's past is shrouded in secrecy," Raj explained. "But I suspect he could put many agents of SHIELD to shame."


End file.
